Wales

North Wales neonatal plans

First Minister Carwyn Jones has announced plans to develop a new centre in North Wales to treat babies who need extra care. But he told AMs the most ill babies would still be sent to Arrowe Park on the Wirral for specialist treatment.

The intervention overturns plans by Betsi Cadwaladr Health Board to send all seriously ill babies to Arrowe Park on the Wirral. Carwyn Jones says the new centre will treat the 'vast majority' of sick babies with the worst cases still treated in Cheshire.

Ysbyty Glan Clwyd is one of two possible locations along with Wrexham's Maelor Hospital. A decision's expected early next year. Ann Jones and Darren Millar have issued this joint statement:

This announcement is very welcome indeed and we will now be working hard to ensure that the new enhanced Neonatal Intensive Care Centre is based at Ysbyty Glan Clwyd.

We feel it?makes sense for the Centre to be in Bodelwyddan given the excellent accommodation for families of sick babies provided by Ty Croeso Dawn Elizabeth House; the accessibility of the hospital from the A55; and its location in the? heart of North Wales.

Whilst the decision represents a victory for North Wales, the First Minister still needs to make a decision about the location of the centre – which could end up in either Bodelwyddan or Wrexham.

We feel that Ysbyty Glan Clwyd is the perfect site and will be pressing for the First Minister to opt for this location.

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Plaid Cymru has criticised the First Minister's announcement on plans for treating babies born in North Wales who need extra care. Carwyn Jones said he'd listened to advice and would develop a centre in the region. But the most serious cases would still be treated on the Wirral.

Plaid's Llyr Gruffydd says that means relying on the English health service the First Minister has criticised:

The Labour government’s plans mean that our most vulnerable babies will be sent to the NHS in England that the First Minister has been so critical of. Plaid Cymru has always made the case for the retention of these life-saving services in North Wales, and for north Wales to maintain this level of expertise.

Unfortunately the Welsh Government has dragged its feet and failed to act on the warnings that the service has become unsustainable, and as a result the people of north Wales have lost this important service. It’s now becoming clear that the defining characteristic of the First Minister’s leadership is that he doesn’t want any responsibility.

First Minister Carwyn Jones has announced plans to develop a new centre in North Wales to treat babies who need extra care. But he told AMs the most ill babies would still be sent to Arrowe Park on the Wirral for specialist treatment.

He also explained to AMs why he was rejecting proposals in an independent report to treat all babies needing extra care in the north.

The First Minister says steps will be taken to ensure there will be a neonatal care centre in North Wales in the future. Carwyn Jones says he's listened to independent advice on controversial health board plans to move neonatal services to Arrowe Park on the Wirral.

But he told AMs that Arrowe Park will continue to be used for specialist care even in the long term. Carwyn Jones said that a site will be chosen for a new neonatal care centre and announced shortly.

Detailed information on financial costings, population analysis, linked services as well as discussions with Cheshire and Merseyside NHS Trusts will now need to take place. We have to ensure the decision on the location of the SuRNICC is based on a robust and complete business case.

I will therefore be establishing an independent panel to work with the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health and with Betsi Cadwaladr University Health Board to develop that business case and recommend to me the best site for the location of the centre, along with the implications for the remaining sites and other interdependent services.

My officials are in the process of establishing the panel and I have asked for recommendations to be made to me by the beginning of March.